deducting the young of those ages during which offence is rare, and the females, with all of whom we may hope, from the circumstance of their non-convict character, that it is equally rare, we are shut up to a most extraordinary conclusion—no other, in fact, than this, that well nigh every second man of the community is a yearly offender against society. Either of these parties—the offender and the offended—we may be sure, is an offence to the other; but which is society? Rarely indeed have the opposing kingdoms of the good Ormuzd and the evil Abriman been so nicely balanced.
In conclusion, although the present condition of Australia as to crime is somewhat discouraging, yet it is a condition that is manifestly improving—a condition that in the present greatly transcends what it was in the past. We can understand from the foregoing, how much this condition depends, for good or for evil, for advance or retrogression, upon the abolition or continuance of the transportation system; and we can thus view in its proper light the strenuous opposition that is now being made by the colonists to even the lingering remnant of the system in West Australia. They mark with satisfaction the gradual wane of the old state of things, with the dangers and disgrace that have so long beset them; and we may readily suppose that when the dawn of a better order is fairly brightening upon them, the effect of any interruption, such as this persistent continuance of transportation to West Australia, must be intolerably vexatious.
There is indeed an argument against the colonists, as well as for them, in this question. England planted her convict colonies upon the desolate shores of Australia; and the free colonists who followed the movement, and who have since prospered and multiplied in the new scene, have now risen up against the convict system. But this argument, to the credit of the Imperial Government, is not used against the colonists. The question is argued on its substantial merits, and in this way those who are on the spot, and can see the practical effects, have totally condemned the system. The records of New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, and Norfolk Island, stand out as an indelible stain on the fair face of the empire. But these records, and all pertaining to them, are at least receding into distance; they are on the eve of being memories instead of realities; and in another generation Australia may begin to rival the world in her relative freedom from crime, as she has already done in her marvellous commercial progress and general prosperity.
